India can ride out slowdown with reforms, planning: Jaitley

In the context of the global economic slowdown compounded by worries about China, India can stand out with the resilience shown during past crises, provided it continues with reforms and responsible economic planning, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Arun Jaitley

“If India continues its reforms and responsible economic planning, we can stand out,” Jaitley said in an interview here.

The finance minister is in this Swiss city attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

“The Indian economy in 2001, 2008 and 2015 has shown resilience to defy global slowdown and crisis. Today, we are better equipped to face that situation and show the resilience,” he said.

He said there is a mood of concern among global leaders and other participants at this year’s WEF.

“The mood is one of concern because global economy is facing a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

“A lot of challenges have surfaced simultaneously. There is worry over China, though Chinese themselves have said that it is no longer possible for China to have a double-digit growth and that they consider 7 percent growth as their new normal. But there is still a lot of global worry about China,” he added.

In a television interview here on Thursday, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said he is not too worried about China’s economic slowdown.

“In terms of the quantity of growth, there’s still a lot of growth coming from China in terms of dollars. Of course, percentages are falling all the time. That is naturally to be expected of an economy which is growing richer and. therefore. going to slow,” he said.

“So I’m not excessively worried about the Chinese growth,” he added. (IANS)